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All the controversy over the past few years regarding Whole Foods Market and its dubious position on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) seems to have fizzled following the company’s recent announcement that, by 2018, all GMOs sold in its stores will have to be properly labeled. But in the meantime, are Whole Foods patrons, and particularly those who purchase food at one of its many “fresh” food bars, being duped into paying a premium for products that contain GM canola oil and other unhealthy additives?

If you frequent Whole Foods, you more than likely have been beckoned, at least once, by the siren calls emanating from one of its enticing fresh food buffets, which are typically overflowing with piping-hot fresh vegetables, delectable casseroles, tender meat dishes, and other savory, gourmet delights. And for the most part, these and the many other offerings at Whole Foods fresh bars truly are fresh, containing minimal additives that might cause potential health problems for you and your family.

But the key word here is minimal – and sometimes this minimal is really more like excessive, especially when it comes to those food items that were marinating in a seductive infusion of spices, oils, and other tasty flavor-enhancers prior to landing in those stainless steel chafers. Though the vast majority of the ingredients found in each meal item at a typical Whole Foods fresh bar are, indeed, fresh and healthy, it is Whole Foods’ excessive use of canola oil, refined flours, and other ingredients that defy the company’s own claims about its food offerings.

Most canola oil comes from GM sources, and this ingredient is prevalent at Whole Foods

If you take some time to peruse those neatly-presented ingredient labels at a typical Whole Foods “hot” bar – that is, the bar containing all the warm meal items as opposed to the salad bar – one of the first things you will notice is that many of them contain canola oil. In some cases, an item will contain healthy oils such as olive oil or even coconut oil, but in most cases, canola oil seems to be Whole Foods’ cooking oil of choice.